Pushing through the market square, so many mothers sighingNews had just come over, we had five years left to cry inNews guy wept and told us, earth was really dyingCried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lyingI heard telephones, opera house, favorite melodiesI saw boys, toys electric irons and T.V.'sMy brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spareI had to cram so many things to store everything in thereAnd all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short peopleAnd all the nobody people, and all the somebody peopleI never thought I'd need so many people

A girl my age went off her head, hit some tiny childrenIf the black hadn't a-pulled her off, I think she would have killed themA soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheels of a CadillacA cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest, and a queerThrew up at the sight of thatI think I saw you in an ice-cream parlor, drinking milk shakes cold and longSmiling and waving and looking so fine, don't thinkYou knew you were in this songAnd it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actorAnd I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back thereYour face, your race, the way that you talkI kiss you, you're beautiful, I want you to walk

We've got five years, stuck on my eyesWe've got five years, what a surpriseWe've got five years, my brain hurts a lotWe've got five years, that's all we've got